Diesel soot particulate traps comprising pleated metal fiber fleece are known, e.g. from U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,722.
Diesel soot particulate traps, which can be regenerated via electrical heating of the filter element itself, are known, e.g. from U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,790.
The presently known filter elements, suitable for electrical regeneration, have the disadvantage that most of the thermal energy, obtained by Joule effects out of electrical energy and used to heat the filter element, is lost due to thermal losses.